Concert Review

I chose to review a performance of the first movement of the Trout Quintet that I heard performed as part of a Master class given by the Marine String Quartet. First of all I loved the piece; the combination of violin, viola, cello, bass, and piano creates such a neat texture and it is a combination that is not, at least for me, heard that often. The dialogue between the strings and the piano in certain sections was one of the great parts of the piece. The piano would play a melodic passage sometimes alone at other times while the strings were playing and then the melody would be picked up by the first violin and they would trade little melodic figures back and forth. The inner voices definitely had their work cut out for them since the served as the driving line underneath the melody a part which I know is harder than it looks. The ensemble did a very nice job performing the piece, but what was most interesting about the performance was to then be able to hear the critique of the Marine String Quartet. One issue that seems to be prevalent in a piece like this is the balance between the piano and other instruments. The piano is sometimes so powerful that it overwhelms the inner voices especially the cello so they suggested that the group configure themselves differently so that the cello was able to project more. The master class was concluded by a concert put on by the Marine String Quartet, which was fantastic.